‘We are not yet done’: March for Life holds first national event after overturn of Roe v. Wade

By Kate Scanlon OSV News

Tens of thousands of pro-life advocates descended upon the nation’s capital for the 50th March for Life Jan. 20, the first national march since the overturn of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that initially prompted the annual demonstration.

Standing on the event stage at the National Mall, with the U.S. Capitol visible in the background, Jeanne Mancini, March for Life president, told attendees at a rally prior to the march that “the country and world changed” when Roe was reversed in June 2022. But she said the annual March for Life would continue in Washington until abortion is “unthinkable.”

“While the March began as a response to Roe, we don’t end as a response to Roe being overturned,” Mancini said. “Why? Because we are not yet done.”

The march took place on a sunny and unseasonably warm day in Washington. A headcount of attendees was not immediately available, as the National Park Service does not release crowd size estimates.

The national March for Life first took place in Washington in 1974 in response to the Roe decision legalizing abortion nationwide the previous year. The protest has taken place in Washington each year since, with a smaller-in-scale event during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

The 2023 event was the first national March for Life since the high court’s June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe and returned the matter of regulating or restricting abortion to state legislatures and federal lawmakers.

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At the pre-march rally, the Christian band “We Are Messengers” performed, followed by a number of speakers, including Jonathan Roumie, known for his role as Jesus in the television series

“The Chosen,” former Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy, Democratic Connecticut State Rep. Trenee McGee, and Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of St. Gianna Beretta Molla. Canonized in 2004, St. Gianna gave her life for Gianna Emanuela, choosing to move forward with her fourth pregnancy even after doctors discovered a tumor in her uterus.

Molla told the rallygoers that she thanks her “saint mom” for the gift of life. “I would not be here now with all

Roe v. Wade followed by ballot initiative losses in multiple states — pro-life activists set their sights on the 2024 campaign cycle. In a press call with reporters on Jan. 18, representatives of the group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which works to elect anti-abortion candidates, cast an optimistic tone about their chances in the next election cycle. “All the work that we’ve already been doing with potential presidential candidates will have fruits,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president, said. She indicated the potential Republican challengers to Democratic President Joe Biden are determining where they fall on a “federal minimum standard” for abortion law.

More Americans identify as pro-choice, but most support some legal curbs to abortion. Although most Americans describe themselves as pro-choice, a majority also would support some legal limits on abortion, while keeping it largely in place, according to a new Marist Poll sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Among Americans, 61% identify as pro-choice, while 39% identify as pro-life. But the annual poll, released Jan. 18, found 69% of Americans would favor restrictions limiting abortion to the first three months of pregnancy at most — theoretically leaving most abortions in the U.S. legal. Data from 2020 gathered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 93.1% of abortions were performed at less than 13 weeks’ gestation. Majorities of Americans also said that they support pregnancy resource centers that do not perform abortions but instead offer support to people during and after pregnancy. The 2023 poll found of you if I had not been loved so much,” she said.

Roumie took a picture of the crowd behind him from the stage, telling marchers to tag themselves on social media, and quipping he is the “TV Jesus,” not the real one.

“God is real and he is completely in love with you,” he said, adding that each person is individually loved by God.

Among the crowd were about 180 people who traveled by chartered buses from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, including 140 high school students and young adults. It was the first trip for Madeline Larson, assistant marriage preparation and youth ministry coordinator for the archdiocesan Office that a growing share of Americans, or 90%, said that laws can protect both a woman and an unborn child, rather than choosing between them, which is up from 81% in the 2022 poll.

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In a motion filed in Massachusetts’ Dedham District Court Jan. 13, lawyers for McCarrick claimed an independent evaluation shows the laicized cleric in steep mental and physical decline. Prosecutors are expected to seek their own evaluation, and a Massachusetts judge will ultimately decide if McCarrick can stand trial. He is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14. The of Marriage, Family and Life. outcome of the competency hearing will not stop the many civil cases now pending against McCarrick, who was removed from ministry in 2018 following a credible allegation of abuse of a minor, and reports that he abused young men going back decades. He was laicized in 2019.

During the trip, Larson said many new relationships were made and longtime friendships deepened. And many young people said they learned how to be with people who are hurting and fearful, “seeking to understand them instead of just throwing pro-life arguments at them,” she said.

From what Larson observed, the students most enjoyed the vigil Mass at the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and the Students for Life conference. The Mass included a large procession and concelebration by cardinals, bishops and priests from across the country, and the conference empowered students “to learn how to listen to others and act in their communities, schools and more,” she said.

A common sentiment Larson heard expressed “by all participants” was how moving it was to not feel alone in the pro-life movement and how excited they were for opportunities to serve their communities when they returned.

The rally also featured some lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, a Catholic Republican and co-chair of the Congressional ProLife Caucus, said at the rally, “Future generations will someday look back on us and wonder how and why a society that bragged about its commitment to human rights could have legally sanctioned” abortion.

“The injustice of abortion need not be forever, and with your continued work and prayers, it will not be,” Smith said.

— Barb Umberger of The Catholic Spirit contributed to this report.

Catholics oppose Alabama attorney general suggestion of prosecuting women over abortion pills. Days after the federal government signaled it would allow abortion pills to be distributed in states that have banned or restricted the procedure, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall indicated Jan. 10 that women who undergo medication abortions in the state could still be subject to prosecution. The remarks prompted some pro-life leaders to renew their objections to lawmakers seeking to criminalize women who obtain an abortion as incompatible with their life-affirming mission. Alabama’s Human Life Protection Act criminalizes abortion providers but specifically states that women who undergo abortions are exempt from prosecution. But Marshall revealed that women using abortion drugs could be prosecuted under a different state law that has been used to prosecute women for using illicit drugs during pregnancy. Catholic and other pro-life leaders have opposed such moves. A May 2022 pro-life coalition letter, in which the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities was represented, stated that “any measure seeking to criminalize or punish women is not pro-life and we stand firmly opposed to such efforts.”